Anna Nicole's burial delayed

Anna Nicole Smith's Bahamas burial was delayed last night, hours before the body was to be flown out from Florida.

The model's mother, Virgie Arthur, convinced a court to hear an appeal in her battle to bury Anna's remains in her native Texas.

Lawyers for Virgie Arthur want the 4th District Court of Appeal to reconsider Circuit Judge Larry Seidlin's tearful ruling on Thursday that the attorney for the centrefold's infant daughter had the rights to decide the burial plans.

That attorney said Smith should be laid to rest next to her son in the Bahamas.

However, her mother wants Anna Nicole buried in her native Texas. She filed an emergency motion on Friday asking Judge Seidlin to reconsider his decision, but he did not immediately rule on that, which prompted the latest legal action.

In the court filing, Ms Arthur's lawyer said the ruling was an inconvenience because the mother "will have to have a passport and round-trip aeroplane tickets and several thousand dollars to even visit or put flowers on (Anna Nicole's) grave."

Judge Seidlin gained national attention with his one-liners and weeping decision on the burial. He was not in his chambers on Monday.

Richard Milstein, the court-appointed attorney for the five-month-old daughter Dannielynn, did not immediately return a phone message.

Anna Nicole Smith's boyfriend Howard K. Stern testified last week that she wanted to be buried in the Bahamas.

Smith died in a Florida hotel on February 8, sparking legal disputes in Florida, California and the Bahamas.

Her funeral will not take place before Tuesday, Mr Milstein said on Saturday. In a news release, he said he was working quickly to complete the details.

A private hearing in the Bahamas to determine Dannielynn's guardianship was expected to resume on Monday between Ms Arthur and Mr Stern, who is listed as the father on the birth certificate.

The judge in that case has barred Stern from taking the girl out of the Bahamas until a custody ruling.

Stern and two other men claim they are Dannielynn's father. Los Angeles-based photographer Larry Birkhead wants a Fort Lauderdale court to enforce a California judge's orders so he can get DNA samples from Smith's body and the baby.

Frederic von Anhalt, the husband of actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, also says he may be the father.

A medical examiner has yet to decide on the cause of death for the 39-year-old blond B-list star.

Toxicology reports could take up to two more weeks to come back, according to Broward County's medical examiner.